UFC on FUEL TV 9's Conor McGregor: 'I already feel like a contender'

If Marcus Brimage is upset with Conor McGregor or his fans, McGregor has one thing to say to his upcoming opponent: Deal with it.

“If you can’t take it, then you shouldn’t be here in the first place,” McGregor told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “It makes no difference to me, so it should make no difference to him.”

Before Brimage (6-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) got a face full of forehead at the weigh-ins for UFC on FUEL TV 9, where he’s set to fight McGregor (12-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) on the Facebook-streamed preliminary card at Stockholm’s Ericsson Globe Arena, he was hounded by the Irish fighter’s fans on his personal Facebook page.

But McGregor said that’s just part of the deal when you step into the cage with someone from his country. An ESPN reporter who recently gave some less-than-glowing comments about the Irish got a staredown too, he said.

“The Irish get behind their athletes, whether it’s combat sports or football or whatever,” he said. “The Irish support their own.”

The hugely confident McGregor plans to spark something of a revolution among his countrymen, who so far have only had one native representing them in the octagon: Tom Egan at UFC 93.

“I’m interested in getting in there and showing the Irish public what martial arts is about,” McGregor said. “I’m going to change the face of combat in my country.”

Brimage, who brings a four-fight win streak into the fight, is merely a stopover toward that goal.

“I’m going to win, I’m going to be creative, and I’m going to put this guy out and become a contender,” McGregor said. “I already feel like a contender. I feel like a star already, and this is only the beginning for me.”

So McGregor, who’s won his past eight and taken titles in the featherweight and lightweight divisions of the U.K.-based Cage Warriors organization, isn’t short on ambition. He might ruffle feathers, but he said he won’t be ruffled.

“There’s no emotions,” he said. “I could fight anyone. I could fight my teammates. I have no emotions when I get in there, and that’s the way we should approach it, in my eyes.”

Brimage pushed back after McGregor’s head-tap at today’s weigh-ins, and officials quickly separated them. Meanwhile, a swarm of McGregor fans held up Irish flags and loudly cheered at the arena. They may be part of the reason betting lines favor the octagon newcomer over the veteran, who complained the UFC is using him as a stepping stone.

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